The Dales were one of three families taking part in Fat Families

Fat Families and The Real Good Life, both broadcast on Tuesday, have been dropped two episodes into their run.

The decision comes just a month after ITV pulled Celebrity Wrestling from its Saturday evening slot because it failed to attract enough viewers.

ITV blamed the ratings fall on "daytime repeats" during the half-term holiday.

The Real Good Life mimics the hit 1970s sitcom as three families leave city life behind to live off the land.

ITV said it had success with new shows such as Ladette to Lady

The first episode, of seven, attracted 2.7 million viewers - 13 per cent of the audience share. But figures for the second instalment, shown at 2000, fell to 2.3 million on Tuesday.

The show was immediately followed by Fat Families at 2030, a six-part series which sees three overweight families go "from fat to fit" in six months.

It was pulled after just one episode which drew an average audience of 2.1 million - 10% of the viewers' share.

Ratings war

However, an ITV spokeswoman insisted the network won the ratings war across the peak viewing hours of 1900-2230.

"We won the week across peak hours and successfully launched two new series, Ladette to Lady and Holiday Showdown."

"The all-time share fell as we transmitted some repeats in daytime, due to the half-term holiday."

The broadcaster suffered its worst week for viewing figures in the final week of August 2004, when its share fell to 18.9%.

Street protest

ITV has also come in for criticism over the disappointing performance of reality show Celebrity Love Island in the ratings.

Coronation Street has been temporarily rescheduled

The channel's spokeswoman confirmed that Coronation Street writers have invited ITV's director of programmes, Nigel Pickard, to a meeting later this month to discuss their concerns over the soaps's scheduling.

The writers are concerned that the recent decision to move the flagship soap to an hour-long slot at 2030 BST on Monday is damaging it.

It is currently being shown prior to the broadcast of Celebrity Love Island, in what is seen as a bid to bolster audiences for the reality TV show.

But the spokeswoman added that Coronation Street is moved "very rarely" and that it was "not done lightly".

"It's a case of balancing the channel's needs against the programme's needs," she said.